


It's Not Always A Gun

by FrozenMetalFire



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Supernatural, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abuse, Abusive John Winchester, Child Abuse, Crossover, Families of Choice, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, M/M, Medical Inaccuracies, Weechesters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-27
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-13 22:39:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1243153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrozenMetalFire/pseuds/FrozenMetalFire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean and Sam Winchester are placed in foster care after John Winchester is found abusing Dean one night. The boys are placed into Clint and Phil's care. This is how they overcame their abuse and the Avengers became their family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok this is my first time ever playing in these to fandoms, ever. I think I've tagged this right but if I missed something please tell me. This is not beta read so if you see any mistakes please tell me.
> 
> This idea came from two separate tumblr posts on pinterest, one how Dean knew that the demon wasn't his dad because of how nice he was acting and the other why Dean enjoys food so much.
> 
> I don't have this plotted out and I'm usually a spastic poster so please don't expect regular updates. 
> 
> I've never been to New York or anywhere on the east coast so please excuse any discrepancies. I used Google to figure out a hospital name.

Clint Barton woke up next to his husband, a ringtone he hadn’t heard since before the invasion filling their suit in Avengers Tower. His husband, Phil Coulson had already grabbed the phone and answered it, his face blank but Clint knew he was perturbed by the way his hand gripped the cell phone. Hearing Phil’s agreement, Clint didn’t have to ask for what already getting out of bed and pulling on clothes to go pick up whatever kids they where fostering for a while. He’d pulled on his pants when Phil hung up the phone.

“So, who are we picking up?” asked Clint as Phil got out of bed.

“Two brothers, Dean and Samuel Winchester, ages 7 and 3 respectively. They have been living in a motel room for about three weeks, a patron at the hotel called police when the boy’s father was heard screaming at Dean and the sound of a body hitting a wall,” said Phil as he fully pulled on his clothes and the two of them exited their rooms, JARVIS silent but helpful.

“So we are headed to the Police Station?” asked Clint as the two of them entered the elevator and where sent down to the garage level.

“No the New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley-Komansky Children’s hospital. Dean Winchester has a broken arm, severely undernourished and a concussion. Sam Winchester had a temperature of 103 degrees and a severe cold. The police think that the father John Winchester was mad at Dean because Sam was sick,” said Phil as they exited the elevator and jumped into one of the non-descript SUVs that Tony had. 

“Do they have the son of a bitch in custody?” asked Clint as Phil drove out of the garage and onto the street.

“Yes they do, from what Alison Garnet, a new Social Worker, told me this is going to be a long drawn out case. She normally wouldn’t have called us but it seems that John Winchester is a slippery son of a bitch. This is the sixth time he’s been accused of child abuse but only the third time CYFD has taken the kids from him. The other two times the boys just mysteriously disappear and no one could find them,” said Phil tightly making Clint look at him closely.

\--

Dean Winchester knew he was in major trouble even if the nurses kept smiling at him. After his third attempt to find his brother in the hospital a security guard had been placed outside of the examination room he’d been placed in. He’d tried for the phone in the first examination room to call Bobby but the social worker had stopped him and then they’d changed rooms. When the door opened to show a male nurse this time Dean glared. He’d seen four or five different nurses and had a bunch of x-rays taken for his sore arm and head.

“Sorry kiddo,” said the nurse as Dean felt a pinprick and then everything went fuzzy around the edges before he finally dropped off to sleep.

\--

Phil and Clint walked up to the Allison Garnet who was talking to a doctor until she spotted them. As she hurried over, Clint noticed that unlike the other social workers Phil and him had dealt with, she was dressed in jeans and a polo shirt instead of full business attire.

“Phil, Clint, thanks for coming so early in the morning I wouldn’t have called you but this is a very odd case,” said Allison leading them down the hallways of the hospital easily.

“Why do you say that?” asked Clint as they stopped outside a room.

“We ran Dean and Sam’s fingerprints through the database and came up with several more child abuse cases though the boys have had different last names in those. From what we’ve been able to discover ever since the boy’s mother’s died in the house fire, the dad has been abusive maybe even before then. The marks on Dean’s body definitely support this idea; we also think that Dean’s been giving Sam his food for whatever reason. According to the case file in Florida the boys where found abandoned in a motel room, and Dean was considered highly malnourished while Sam only had a slight case of it,” said Allison calmly making Clint want to go shoot the man.

“This isn’t going to be a temporary placement is it?” asked Clint seriously wondering what was going through the woman’s mind. They lived in Avengers towers for Christ sake. It was attacked monthly by Doom or some other super villain wannabe all the time. It wasn’t safe for the boys.

“No, with as slippery as John Winchester is we can’t risk him getting to the boys easily. We’ve already learned that Dean will do anything to get to his brother… We had to put a security guard on his room to keep him from escaping. Right now NYPD has John Winchester in lockup for now but other departments have had done the same thing and he’s escaped. While you have to deal with villains, Avenger’s Tower would be the safest for the two boys,” said Allison with fire in her eyes.

“What type of injuries are we talking about for the boys?” asked Phil knowingly as he fired off a text to Jarvis to tell the AI they needed the guest bedroom set up for the boys. It also said to inform the team so they wouldn’t be blindsided by two little boys. When they had originally moved into the tower they had explained to everyone that they are emergency foster parents and that most of the time the child only stayed at most a week with them.

“Sam Winchester is suffering from dehydration and a severe cold. His temperature has finally dropped down to safer levels and he’s been given a strong antibiotic to help clear it up. Otherwise there are no injuries to report. Dean on the other hand is still under sedation because of his arm. From what the doctor was able to surmise Dean’s arm had been broken before and healed wrong as he never received any care for it. When he was thrown into the wall earlier tonight, the break fractured again, they went in and set it correctly, he’ll need to come back in a week for a hard cast instead of a soft one. His concussion was ruled a minor one so other than some dizziness he should be fine in that aspect. His malnutrition is what’s worrying. According to the doctor’s it’s already stunted his growth and hopefully won’t cause any harmful side effects but we won’t know until he’s older. Once he’s awake you can take them home,” said Allison before she opened the door to the room to show that dean was already awake and in Sam’s bed checking over his younger brother.

Clint wasn’t surprised at all when Dean whirled around and placed himself between them and his brother. Before Dean could say anything Sam let out a whimper which had the older boy turning back around to check on his brother. Clint was surprised to see that the usual hospital phone had been removed from the room but decided not to ask as Sam was lulled back to sleep by Dean’s comforting touch.

“Dean this is Phil Coulson and Clint Barton they are going to be your foster parents,” said Allison brightly making Dean narrow his eyes.

“We don’t need foster parents dad didn’t do it. You have it wrong,” said Dean strongly glaring at the Social worker.

“Dean the officers and I have already explained because of the evidence your father is in jail, so for now you will live with these men. Now I’m sure you are tired and wanting to go to bed so I will go get the doctor to talk to you,” said Allison before she left the room, making Dean roll his eyes and stood his ground.

“My father didn’t do anything, I just let Sammy get too sick,” said Dean clenching his fists as Phil followed Allison out of the room.

“Dean, you are seven years old you should be outside playing with kids your own age not trying to take care of a three year old,” said Clint calmly walking towards him as non-threatening as he was able to.

“No, my job is to take care of Sammy. Everything else doesn’t matter, school, playing, friends don’t come before him,” said Dean hotly making Clint smile sadly at him.

“Now it’s not your job. Your job is to be his big brother but not his parent. That’s why Phil and I are here to take care of you. Now did you bring anything with you from the motel room?” asked Clint sitting down on one of the hospital chairs making sure to not crowd the boys but still have time to act.

“Not that I know of, last thing I remember was dad telling me that Sammy’s fever spiked,” said Dean defensively though his tough boy persona was ruined by the yawn he let out, making him look much younger than he was.

“Then we’ll take care of it, why don’t you curl up and get some sleep. It will probably be another thirty minutes until we leave,” said Clint easily stretching out his feet so the boots he’d worn blocked Dean’s exit.  
Dean looks at him closely and narrows his eyes before he carefully climbs onto the bed making sure to not use his broken arm and curls up around Sam’s body. Soon his breathing evens out and he’s asleep. Once Clint is sure of that he carefully takes the blanket off the unused bed and tucks the boys in, neither of them waking up. Sighing he takes the chair again and waits for his husband.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys wake up in the tower and breakfast is served.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I haven't mentioned before I'm mentioning now that I don't update regularly. This is a real slow going fic for me, I can usually only write about 100 words on it or so a day so it will be a long wait between updates.
> 
> Please remember that I do not have a beta.

Clint wasn’t surprised when thirty minutes later Phil came back in the room carry a black trash bag over one shoulder and a box containing a car seat in another. Taking the bag from his husband he turned back and looked at the two boys. Dean had wrapped his body around Sam’s, for even in his sleep he was trying to keep his brother safe. Moving forward, Clint carefully maneuvered Dean off of his brother so the boy was asleep on his chest while Phil did the same with Sam.

“All the medication, their papers, and two changes of clothes are in the one bag. From what the hospital said the boys didn’t come in with anything but the clothes on their backs. I’ve already talked to Allison again and she said we would have a meeting tomorrow to talk about everything else, let’s get these boys home,” said Phil leading the way out of the hospital.

\--

Phil was exhausted by the time they made it back into the tower. It had taken them another ten minutes once they had made it back to the SUV to install the car seat the hospital had given them and get Sam in it correctly. Then the drive back had been quiet other than at one point a cop car had gone speeding past with its lights on and he’d held his breath worried that the avenger alarm would start from their phones. 

As they entered the spare room in their suite, Phil was glad they had taken the time to have two twin beds placed into the room. It was a surprise to see the two beds already made but noticing the hospital corners and the nightlight that looked like a miniature arc reactor, he knew exactly who did it. Placing Sam carefully on the bed, Phil dug into the black trash bag to pull out the files, paperwork, medicines and finally the clothes. 

“Hell,” said Clint seeing that each boy got a pair of plain hospital pajamas and a pair of shorts and a plain color t-shirt. In a synchronized action they quickly changed the boys into their pajamas made sure Jarvis knew to contact them I the boys needed them or woke up and then hit the bed themselves.

\--

Dean woke up in an unfamiliar bed to the sound of Sam whimpering in his sleep. Untangling himself from the blanket that had wrapped around his legs he stumbled across the room to his brother. He tripped over his own two feet and fell on top of the bed jarring his arms making tears appear in his eyes from the pain. Gritting his teeth he reached for Sammy and gently shook him awake. Sammy woke up sleepily as Dean was about to get on the bed when the door opened to show both Clint and Phil.

“Who dat?” asked Sammy as Dean stood in between Sammy and the two men.

“I’m Phil Coulson-Barton and this is my husband Clint Coulson-Barton, we are your foster parents for right now,” said Phil as Dean glared at them before turning his back to try and get onto the bed again.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Jarvis already told us you hit your arm pretty hard on the bed,” said Clint with a hand to Dean’s shoulder, turning Dean around as Sammy looked on confused.

“Where Dad?” asked Sammy as Clint picked up an obstinate Dean and placed the boy on top of the bed next to Sammy.

“Jail, Sammy, he went to Jail,” said Dean looking carefully at the two men for their reaction.

“Ok, we go to Unca Bobby?” asked Sammy hopefully, as the two men looked at them confused.

“No, we can’t right now,” said Dean softly angling himself to protect Sammy if his brother started crying and the two men reacted like his dad did.

“Ok, Misery?” asked Sammy making Phil and Clint frown.

“Nope we are staying with these guys right now Sammy,” said Dean before he gave his brother a one armed hug to help keep him calm.

“You stay?” asked Sammy hugging him back.

“Yep,” said Dean softly.

\--

Clint mentally cataloged the bruises he could see on Dean’s torso as he helped the boy get out of his pajamas and dress into the shirt and shorts CYFD had given him. Mindful of his arm, Clint quickly got him changed and the sling back on before heading out of the bathroom and into the living room to find Sammy and Phil coming out of the boy’s bedroom.

“Master Stark wanted me to tell you that they have breakfast already main in the main kitchen if you would like to join them,” said Jarvis making the two boys look around fearfully.

“Thank you, tell them we will be right up,” said Phil picking up Sammy and giving him a hug. “Jarvis is an AI or a computer, he’s in the walls of the tower and he’s here to help.”

“That I am, Agent Coulson,” said Jarvis as the four of them headed to the up elevator. 

Phil pressed the button while Dean moved away from Clint a sour look on his face. Clint just mentally shrugged knowing that the older boy probably felt cramped in the elevator with two male adults. When the doors opened again Dean zipped out but then froze. Clint easily picked him up and carried him the five feet into the kitchen proper and put him down on a stool. 

Steve was flipping pancakes on a hot griddle while Tony was drinking from his coffee cup, Thor was eating a pop tart, Bruce was making a cup of tea and Natasha was cutting up a pancake into small bites. Dean stalled just outside the elevator while Phil walked passed him and sat down next to Thor, making Dean race to take the seat next to them. Clint followed behind and murmured his thanks as Steve set pancakes in front of him and Dean.

“Eat up, we’ve got a bit of shopping to do today,” said Steve brightly making Dean look at him closely as Natasha slid the plate full of pancake bites in front of Sam and Phil.

“Tony,” warned Phil as He helped Sam navigate the pancakes.

“Look, I’ve already called Macy’s so they have the store closed to the public this morning. That way the boys can get new clothes and toys without the press getting to be too nosey,” said Tony refilling his coffee cup.

“We don’t need clothes,” said Dean gruffly looking like he was going to push his plate away before Clint placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Dean, all you have are the clothes you have on and we really don’t have any toys that are age appropriate for you two,” said Clint giving Dean’s shoulder a squeeze before letting go.

“Fine,” said Dean turning back to his pancakes though Clint knew that this wasn’t the end of the discussion.

\--

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will deal with them going to Macy's and the fallout from there. I've got two weeks before my vacation so I may not have the next chapter up by then.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys get to go shopping and we peek in at John.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, first off let me say sorry to everyone that this took me so long to get posted. I originally had a good 500 words written back in April but I hit a wall and really wasn't happy with what I wrote, and I just let it sit in my computer. I was trying to get back into the writting mood and went back and reread the story to get an idea on how to write the next chapter. I ended up deleting the original 500 words and starting this chapter over. I'm not exactly happy with this one but it will have to do. As always I don't have a beta so all mistakes are my own.

It took them the rest of breakfast to discuss a game plan on how to go to Macy’s. It was finally decided that Sam, Phil, Steve, Natasha and Bruce where to go looking for things age appropriate for Sam, while Dean, Clint, Tony, and Thor got Deans things. They had all loaded up into the limo, with Tony bitching about the poor design of Sam’s car seat with a vow to pick up a better one. The pulled up to Macy’s flag ship store in New York with Sam humming happily while Dean just stared at his good hand nervous about the shopping trip.  
Clint spent the ride with one eye on Dean as he and Tony conversed over what the boys needed in low voices so they couldn’t be overheard. Phil was doing his hardest to keep Sam from getting out of his car seat saying that he was a big boy and didn’t need one. When they had finally arrived at Macy’s they split up to save time.

“Wait I need to help Sammy!” said Dean as the groups split up into two to do clothes shopping.

“It’ll be fine Dean we need you to get your sizes right,” said Clint as Thor picked up Dean so he couldn’t sneak off on them.

\--

Clint sighed as they met up at the start of the toys section having handed off their clothing selections to a Macy’s employee beforehand. Thor plopped Dean into the shopping cart Sammy was sitting in, making the boy start to fuss over his little brother. Phil placed a hand onto Clint’s shoulder but Clint shook his head as they headed into toys.

“Is everything ok?” asked Phil softly noticing that Steve hung back with them.

“He fought us over every little choice the only thing he didn’t was when we got him a new pair of shoes. Phil I don’t think Dean knows how to even be a kid. I think all he knows is how to look after Sammy and that’s about it. When we asked him what his favorite sport was he said he didn’t like sports or videogames or anything like that. He had to be a man and take care of Sammy and if we could please just let him do that,” said Clint sighing deeply as he watched Dean argue with Tony about picking up a game that was too old for Sammy.

“Sammy can play it later, right now you can learn how to play it, it’s not against the rules for you to have toys,” said Natasha firmly making Dean look at her funny.

“Sammy should get toys first I’ll get one…if we have enough money,” said Dean stubbornly making Tony look at him closely as Phil stepped up.

“Dean, we will cover this later but know that you will also get toys as you have clothes,” said Phil firmly looking the boy right into his eyes.

\--

They’d gotten back to the tower just in time for lunch. Once that was done they’d put Sam and Dean down for a nap though Dean said he was just going to make sure that Sam was fine. Phil knew otherwise as he had been the one to fight with the boy to get to take not only the pain killer but the antibiotic the doctor’s had prescribed for him. Now both boys where curled up in the same bed fast asleep. Sighing Phil shut the door and went back into their kitchen where everyone was.

“When is the Social worker coming?” asked Bruce as he handed Phil some tea.

“At three, so sometime after nap time is over. I know for a fact that Dean is not going to like this at all,” said Clint as he sipped his drink slowly an eye on the holographic screen that showed the boy’s room.

“Dean seems so uncomfortable with everything,” remarked Steve slowly as he helped clean up from lunch placing the peanut butter back into the cabinet.

“That’s because we are going against everything he knows. The house burnt down when he was four, I found the report that the police and firemen wrote up. In a side note by the police officer it is noted that Dean carried Sammy out of the house and that their dad had to be dragged out,” said Tony as he did something on a tablet.

“I bet that’s when John made it Dean’s responsibility to look after Sammy. I read through some of the other reports of child abuse and it paints a grim picture. From the most complete one we have, the one from Florida, Dean wasn’t even enrolled in school there in fact according to what I could find he’s severely behind but I believe that is more because they’ve moved around so much than anything else. The Florida report also states that on top of the malnutrition that Dean was severely exhausted and that they had to drug him at one point to keep him from running laps. When they asked him why he just stated that his dad told him to do laps every day until he came back because he made a mistake and that was why they were left there. They were planning on getting Dean evaluated with a therapist when they suddenly disappeared. The cops think that John showed up and took the boys in the middle of the night but they were not sure because they couldn’t find any sign of forced entry,” said Steve quietly looking pensive.

“I bet he ordered Dean to open the door or window to take the boys. He was trying to turn the boy into a soldier,” said Natasha frankly as they heard Sam whine slightly until Dean threw an arm around his brother.

“We can sit here and guess about their past or we can make plans for their future. You said that the father was in lock up correct?” asked Tony tapping his stark pad furiously.

“Yes he was. I believe because of the other incidents he was going to stay in jail until his court date because he’s such a flight risk. They’ve also impounded his vehicle a 1967 Chevy Impala, black with Kansas license plate,” said Clint nodding his head.

“That’s a nice car,” remarked Tony before he frowned at his stark pad.

“What’s wrong?” asked Steve moving closer to Tony.

\--

“Bobby don’t hang up,” said John Winchester into the phone praying the man wouldn’t just slam the phone down on him.

“John Winchester I ought a,” said Bobby Singer getting ready to hang up the phone.

“Don’t I got into some trouble here in New York and the boys are in CYFD custody I need you to come claim them until I get out of here,” started John but he heard a dial tone half way through his message.

“That’s you one phone call Winchester,” said the Guard as John hung up the phone swearing.


End file.
